Antenatal care claim while on illness benefit.

conorkeating

Hi all,

Here's a question I am struggling to get an answer to.

My wife is 12 weeks pregnant and has been certified ill since week 6. Her employer paid her sick pay for the first two weeks which has obviously ran out now. So, at the moment we are only receiving the 188 euro state benefit.
My query is as follows... she is attending antenatal care appointments which under the terms of maternity benefit must be paid in full for the time of the visit by her employer. So my question is this, if we attend an antenatal appointment next week for 2 hours, is she entitled for these 2 hours to be paid by her employer under the terms of maternity benefit even though her entitlement to sick pay for the year (3.5 weeks) is used up?
Looking forward to your responses : )

Loveinapril

I would guess that she would only be entitled to be paid for those hours off if she was actually IN work and had to leave for the appointments. If she is certified unfit to work, then her job would not interfere with her ability to attend the appointments.